Computing devices can send data such as pictures and text to a printer for printing. However, printer drivers are installed on the computing devices before they can utilize printers and printer services. The printer drivers are specific to both the operating system and a given printer and act as a software interface between the computing device and the printer. The use of operating system/printer specific print drivers has a number of disadvantages. Separate print drivers are installed on the computing device for each printer the device will interface with. For portable and handheld computing devices, the complexity and size of the print drivers may exceed the capacity of the devices and consequently may prevent efficient printing from these devices. In addition, can be difficult and costly for printer vendors to supply drivers for all the current computing devices, operating systems and printers.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.